Protective Effects of Aucubin in DSS-Induced Colitis: Modulation of Inflammatory Pathways, Intestinal Barrier Integrity, and Gut Microbiota

作者：Yong Zhang, Han Qiao, Yuxin Cao, Meng Zhang, X Zhang, Peng Li · 发表于：Foods · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.3390/foods14213648 · 被引用次数：2 · 研究领域：Phytochemistry and Biological Activities、Psidium guajava Extracts and Applications、Ginger and Zingiberaceae research

As an active ingredient in Eucommia leaf, aucubin (AU) is natural and safe, and studies have shown that aucubin (AU) demonstrates great potential in its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, neuroprotective, and anti-osteoporotic properties. However, AU has been less studied in colitis. In this experiment, we used DSS-induced mice to establish a colitis model to investigate the ability of AU to alleviate colitis. The results show that, in animal experiments, AU increased body weight, reduced disease activity index (DAI) scores and organ indices, restored colon morphology, and increased superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX), and catalase (CAT) levels in mouse serum and colon. It also reduced malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, decreased the relative mRNA expression levels of inflammatory factors IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-18, MyD88, and NF-κB, and increased the relative mRNA expression levels of intestinal barrier-related genes OCLN, CLDN1, CLDN2, ZO-2, and MUC1. AU also upregulated the abundance of bacterial groups such as Bacteroidota, Firmicutes, and Verrucomicrobiota, and downregulated the abundance of bacterial groups such as Proteobacteria and Deferribacterota, thereby regulating the intestinal microbiota. In cell experiments, AU increased the relative mRNA expression levels of intestinal barrier-related genes MUC2, ZO-1, OCLN, and CLDN1, reduced the relative expression levels of inflammatory factors IL-1β and TNF-α, and increased the relative expression level of the ant...